Photography Techniques

I'm new the forum so apologies if this is not the correct area (couldn't seem to find another place to post!)

I'm also new to the world of photography and own the entry level Canon 400D. At the moment I'm pretty much familiarising myself with all the manual features. I'm still finding my feet into terms of "style" but am really interested in exploring black and white as well as some vintage effects.

So to my question... the vintage "style" I'd like to experiment is somewhat subtle (no vignetting etc). Best example I could find is below:

Excuse the ignorance, but how (if at all) is this achievable with a DSLR? I'm sure this achievable through post-processing but is there a better more purist way? Are there any lenses or filters that are recommended?